Social Media Indoor Tanning Study

Using a Narrative-Based Approach to Reducing Indoor Tanning

The purpose of this research is to develop a social media delivered intervention to reduce unprotected sun exposure in young adults with a history of tanning.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Skin Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Sun Safety Social Media Challenge; Behavioral: Digital Health Social Media Challenge

Detailed Description

We will use social marketing theory and a user-centered design approach to develop a social media intervention that engages young adults with a history of tanning to practice sun safety behaviors. We will incentivize young adults who have a history of tanning to create social media posts that encourage their peers to engage in sun safety. Focus groups of tanners guided the development of the intervention. Investigators will conduct a pilot feasibility trial where participants will be randomized to a condition in which they are incentivized to create sun safety social media messages to be posted on a sun safety social media account or a condition in which they are incentivized to create social media messages about how to use technology to support healthy lifestyle behaviors to be posted on a health technology social media account. The intervention will last 4 weeks. Feasibility outcomes include recruitment, retention, acceptability, participation, social media message engagement (likes, comments, shares), persuasive impact of messages, unprotected sun exposure, sun protection, and tanning behavior. This work will inform a fully powered randomized trial testing the efficacy of this intervention.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 66
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Connecticut
    • Storrs, Connecticut, United States, 06269
      • University of Connecticut

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 30 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Ages 18-30
• Tanned indoors or outdoors at least once in the past year
• Intends to tan indoors or outdoors this summer
• Daily user of any social media platform

Exclusion Criteria:

• No smartphone
• Does not use a social media platform daily
• Lives in a state with an average temperature <75 degrees in May
• Inability to provide consent due to mental illness or a cognitive impairment
• Non-English speaking
• Prisoner

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sun Safety Social Media Challenge; During this 4-week intervention, participants will be incentivized to create sun safety social media messages that will be distributed on our sun safety Twitter and Facebook feeds.	Behavioral: Sun Safety Social Media Challenge; Participants will attend a webinar to learn how to create effective social media posts about sun safety and be oriented to the social media accounts on which the messages will be posted. They will be informed that posts should include a sun safety message (e.g., promoting sunscreen use and protective clothing/hats or discouraging risk behaviors like tanning and burning). They will be encouraged to be creative so that the message gets likes and shares. Participants will be encouraged to follow the feeds to see the engagement on their posts, to share the posts in their feed, and to see other participants' posts. Participants will receive a $10 Amazon gift card per post for a maximum of 6 posts ($60). The participant who created the post that receives the most likes, comments, and shares each week will win a $50 Amazon gift card.
Active Comparator: Digital Health Social Media Challenge; During this 4-week intervention, participants will be incentivized to create posts that promote the use of technology to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors (diet, exercise) on our digital health Twitter and Facebook feeds.	Behavioral: Digital Health Social Media Challenge; Participants will attend a webinar to learn how to create effective social media posts about using technology to get healthy and be oriented to the social media accounts on which the messages will be posted. They will be informed that posts should mention some way that technology (e.g., mobile apps, wearables) can be used to promote a healthy habit (e.g., diet, exercise). They will be encouraged to be creative so that the message gets likes and shares. Participants will be encouraged to follow the feeds to see the engagement on their posts, to share the posts in their feed, and to see other participants' posts. Participants will receive a $10 Amazon gift card per post for a maximum of 6 posts ($60). The participant who created the post that receives the most likes, comments, and shares each week will win a $50 Amazon gift card.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Recruitment	The number of completed respondents to recruitment ads, number of respondents eligible at initial screening, and number of respondents who completed baseline.	Baseline
Retention	The % of participants in each condition who complete the follow-up assessment.	4-week follow-up
Acceptability	Number of participants who selected agree or strongly agree on 5-point Likert scale rating of how likely participants would be to recommend the intervention to a friend, and how likely they would be to participate again.	4-week follow-up
Participation	The number of posts created by participants	4-week follow-up
Post Engagement	The median number of likes, shares and retweets, and unique commenters each participant post received.	4 weeks
Desirability of Tanning	Scale measuring participants' belief that a tan is attractive. Scale ranges from 0-12 with higher scores indicating higher levels of belief that a tan is attractive.	Baseline
Desirability of Tanning	Scale measuring participants' belief that a tan is attractive. Scale ranges from 0-12 with higher scores indicating higher levels of belief that a tan is attractive.	4-week follow-up
Desirability of Tanning Alternatives	Average score on items relating to tanning alternative desirability. Scale ranges from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating more positive attitudes towards tanning alternatives.	Baseline
Desirability of Tanning Alternatives	Average score on items relating to tanning alternative desirability. Scale ranges from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating more positive attitudes towards tanning alternatives.	4-week follow-up
Persuasive Impact of Participant Messages	The mean of participants ratings for how persuasive they found each post (other than those they created) on a scale of 0-100, with higher scores indicating more persuasive.	4-week follow-up
Contamination	The number of participants who report they saw the opposite conditions Facebook or Twitter feeds.	4-week follow-up

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Outdoor Tanning Intentions	Three items assessed intentions to tan even once, intentions to tan regularly in the next year, and intentions to quit on a 7-point scale (0=definitely will not, 6=definitely will).	Baseline
Outdoor Tanning Intentions	Three items assessed intentions to tan even once, intentions to tan regularly in the next year, and intentions to quit on a 7-point scale (0=definitely will not, 6=definitely will).	4-week follow-up
Sun Exposure	How many hours the participant spent outside per week between the hours of 10am and 4pm.	Baseline
Sun Exposure	How many hours the participant spent outside per week between 10am and 4pm	4-week follow-up
Outdoor Tanning	How many times in the last 4 weeks the participant went outside for the purpose of tanning in the sun.	Baseline
Outdoor Tanning	How many times in the last 4 weeks the participant went outside for the purpose of tanning in the sun.	4-week follow-up
Sun Protection	Number of participants who reported using sun protection (sunscreen, protective clothing) often or always in the past month	Baseline
Sun Protection	Number of participants who reported using sun protection (sunscreen, protective clothing) often or always in the past month	4-week follow-up
Indoor Tanning Behavior	Number of indoor tanning visits in the previous month	Baseline
Indoor Tanning Behavior	Number of indoor tanning visits in the previous month	4 weeks
Sunburn	Number of participants with 1 or more sunburns in the past month	baseline
Sunburn	Number of participants with 1 or more sunburns in the past month	4 weeks
Outdoor Tanning Duration	Median reported average number of minutes tanned per episode in the past 4 weeks, among participants who tanned in the past 4 weeks.	4 weeks
Outdoor Tanning Duration	Median reported average number of minutes tanned per episode in the past 4 weeks, among participants who tanned in the past 4 weeks.	Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Connecticut
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sherry L Pagoto, PhD, University of Connecticut

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Pagoto SL, Waring ME, Groshon LC, Rosen AO, Schroeder MW, Goetz JM. Proof-of-Concept Feasibility Trial of a Dissonance-Based Sun Safety Intervention for Young Adult Tanners. Ann Behav Med. 2022 Aug 2;56(8):830-841. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaab116.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 6, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 28, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): October 28, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 7, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 7, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): February 8, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 3, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 2, 2021
• Last Verified: December 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Skin Diseases; Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Skin Neoplasms
• Other Study ID Numbers: H19-033; R21CA226133-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No